New laws being introduced early next year will better protect Australian gig workers, including truck drivers, from being unfairly let go from work.
From February 26 next year, the new Digital Labour Platform Deactivation Code and Road Transport Industry Termination Code will come into effect to ensure rideshare, parcel and food delivery drivers, alongside truck drivers, will have more stringent rules to protect them from being unfairly let go.
Currently, there are no consistent national rules governing the termination of these workers’ contracts or remedies for when contract terminations or deactivations occur unfairly.
The Road Transport Industry Termination Code means truckies will need to be given a fair process by road transport businesses before their contracts can be terminated.
While both digital and trucking businesses will have harsher restrictions on letting employees go, they will still be able to terminate a worker’s contract or deactivate a worker for a valid reason relating to capacity or conduct or do so if there’s serious misconduct not affected by the new codes.
The Digital Labour Platform Deactivation Code will ensure digital platform businesses covered by the code must follow a fair process before deactivating an employee-like gig worker.
Gig workers will have a new right to discuss a proposed deactivation with the digital platform business and have their response considered by a human, meaning there’s a proper right of response for workers to ensure they understand the decision and can appeal it if they deem it unfair.
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Federal employment and workplace relations minister Murray Watt says these reforms were another step in the federal government’s reforms to ensure Australian workers have secure jobs and better pay.
“For a long time, digital platform and road transport businesses have been able to punt gig workers like rideshare and food delivery drivers off their apps without notice, or terminate truckies’ contracts without a fair process, effectively cutting off their income with the snap of their fingers,” Watt says.
“If eligible gig workers and truckies believe they were unfairly treated, they will now have – for the first time – access to a simple, low-cost process to apply for reinstatement.
“The process is fair and transparent and prioritises better communication. It’s not unreasonable to expect a review of a decision to essentially sack or suspend a gig worker to be made by a real person, not a robot.
“We are grateful for the engagement we’ve had with platform businesses including Uber, Menulog and Doordash, as well as road transport industry businesses and unions, who have worked with us constructively on these world leading reforms. They know that better standards for gig and road transport workers are better for business, better for customers and better for the wider community as well.”
The Fair Work Commission has been given extra powers to help gig workers and road transport workers. If matters are referred to the Fair Work Commission, it would have to consider whether the platform or road transport business complied with the relevant code.
If the relevant code was not complied with and the deactivation or termination was found to be unfair, the Commission can order a remedy – including reinstatement. These protections are subject to a six-month qualifying period.
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